Machine for bunching hairpins



1. H. PECK ,9

MACHINE FOR BUNCHING HAIRPINS Filed Sept. 28, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 VW )w W Jan. 1, 1935.

Jan. 1, 1935. H. PE K 1,986,523

MACHINE FOR BUNCHING HAIRPINS Filed Sept. 28, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 1, 1935. l. HfPECK 1,986,523

MACHINE FOR BUNCHING HAIRPINS Filed Sept. 28, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Jan. 1, 11935,

y I, 1 19865231 v a A HINE Foa BUNcmNe HAmPI s 1 a i 1 rIrvingfl Hfifeck;Derby; C'onn. a v i V Application septernber 2's, mafsaal 1%;69137 7. invention relates to a niachinefor hunching ,hairpins and is an improvement upon the .smaohines shown my Patents Nos. 672,330 and and 'No. 1,246,648 r :pins are placed in boxes or applied to cards to 1separateandsort them .by mechanical means of rthejtype shown in my previous patents. In the j machine shown int-Patent No. 1,246,648, forjeaample, the hairpins are separated from each other=byinstrumentalities including aj separating -dr1i1n-and a plurality of troughsor chutes to most chutean d a portion of the which the hairpins arecarried by an endless conveyer. in the rmachine shown inth at patent 9 fit-hose hairpins whichvpassdown the. troughs or 7 7 and 8-8 of Fig. 6;

chutes with their legs or points 'directedj fortaken off 'by the operator in bunches of the re- -quired number. FIhose hairpins which pass down 25 the chuteswith their looped or. butt ends fore- I tmest (are rejected and .dropped down into the" .lower @portion of the machine and come again inte -the, pathvto f the conveyertsoas-to be carried .up the troughs andapassed-thereover a sec- O-ond-time. 1 Y

' 30118 1 of the 9 objects of present invention flis to improve-the structure of the machine considerably so far as efliciencyis concerned.

. L gAn'other object is to provide a machine in 35 "which the number of hairpins which haveto i ass -over the troughs or-chutes more than once I V eratorl-in generallythe manner described may previouspatentaabove mentioned. ThosejhairwwilLbe considerably-reduced. h V Another object is to provide improved ymeans --for@'separating masses of interentangled hairpins. IE also khavein view the provision oft-a Jma- .chinerhavingmeans -for catching and-separating qhairpins travelling downwardly ,over a chute whether these hairpins have their looped ends or their pointed ends foremost. ;In my prior ifim-achineshairpins which had their looped or {biitt endsforemost were-noticaug-htby the track on ;which'the hairpins were bunched, but. in accordance with my present improvements there ris-provided a device a associated with the lower end .-portion -of achute to-catch and transfer hair- ,pins having their loops l foremolst, asIwell .as hairpins LhaVing their pointsjforemost, and this .means i is dif asimple and yet V effective nature tandconsiderably. increase's'thelefficiency and caentangled, and it ;is expedient before the hairpulleys Twardly, or .a certain percentage @of them, are .;caught on a ,track :and held in posi tion to be number of chutes located within this orbit, in this (.Cl.1638) "Io these and zother ends the invention 1 consists in the novel; featuresand combinations of partsto be hereinafterdescribed and pointed out-inthe claims; 1 i 1 In the accompanyingdrawings: 5 .FigQ l is a fro M f televatiorial view partly in section of a machine constructed.inaccordance with the invention; I

Fig. 2-is a s ection on line 2-2 ,of Fig. -1l;

Fig. -3 showsljqi -an'..en1arged scale a sectional. 10

view of the upp 33 of Fi g. 2; I

Fig. 4 isa detail of the conveyer-belt;

Fig; 5 is a detail lo'f one of the conveyer helt r portion Rig. 1, taken'fonlline 1 K115 Fig. 6.-,-is fan, enlarged plan view ;of-.the lowerhairpincatching track associated-therewith;

1 igs. land 8. are sections, respectively; ong-lines Figs 9 and 10 areienlarged fragmentary side elevations .ofthe lower chute and its associated track illustrating the manner in whichthe hairpins are caught; and K .Figs. nan'd l2 'aretransvers'e sections of the:- .upper chutes H fl In the machine selectedfonillustration. a numlherof; troughs or ch utesare arranged at difierexit-elevations andan} endless conveyer isadapted to carry hairpins t'oflthe uppermost chute SO The hairpins .pass downwardly overLthe chutes, I being in the meantime separatedlfrom each other to a certain extent, {and after v the hairpinspass over the :lowermost chute a considerable number of ;them are;caught .on a suitable track where they-areheld until takenoff bythe oppins which are notcaught on the track pass downwardly intolth'e lower partof the machine and are; caught again by the-conveyer .belt and carried upwardly again so asto passovervthe chutes again. My improvements are primarily concerned. with the means for; causing the hair-- pins passing downward over the chuteor chutes. to be engaged and caughtby the, track on .which the hairpins are bunched, but I have also ,jprovide'd certain improvements in other features, as hereinafter pointedout. h p h In the particular case s ownin the drawings, the machine has aframe 20in which the conveyer is arranged-said conveyer being shown at .121 and being in the form of an endless band. having its orbit disposed in a vertical plane, there being a instance three principal chutes. The conveyer band or belt is provided on its inner surface with I a plurality of buckets 22, and this band is supported and passes over a lower pulley element 23 and upper pulley elements 24 and-25. The band has in general a triangular orbit, as shown more particularly in Fig. 1, the upper reach of the band I being rather short and slanting downwardly slightly from pulley element 24 to pulley element 25. In betweenthese two pulley elements is a short troughor deflecting element '26 which receives'the hairpins from the band buckets and causes them to slide downwardly to an upper chute. 27 which delivers the hairpins to an intermediate oppositely inclined chute 28, which in turn delivers the hairpins to an oppositely in.-

clined chute 29. From-the'chute 29 thehairpins pass to the collecting track 30, but hairpins which fail to be caught by tracks 30 and which drop vertically from chute 29 are caught by a deflecting. wall; 3i and conducted to a point 'where they will-be'delivered into the buckets on the ascending reach of the conveyer. Preferably the ascending reach of the conveyer is vertically disposed, as shown in Fig; 1, and the descending f reach at the opposite side of thetriangle is disposed on a slight incline to the I vertical, as

Thebodyportion of the band 21 is formed of any suitable flexible material, and this body portion has appliedtoit on the outside a plurality of transversely arranged metal strips 32, which 7 may be applied to the band by riveting, for example. The buckets-'22 are preferably of trian gular cross-section and are applied to the inner "surface of the band, the upper edge portion of each bucket being riveted to the'band and to a strip 32 located adjacentthe upper edge of the;

' bucket. The lower ends of the, buckets are preferably free from the band. For the purpose of" properly guiding the band the pulley elements each pulley of'two separate disk-like elements are provided 'withflanges, and I prefer to form provided with flanges and separately attached to the pulley shaft. 'InFig. 5 I have shown one of the disk-like elements 24 forming part of pulley 24 for example, this element having the body por- 'tion 33 for guiding the band and the retaininga, 50' flange 34; The other pulley elements 23 and 25 are similarly constructed. a a

It will beobserved that while the trough 26 is in 'this particular instance 'locatedin the general plane'oftheconveyer band, the other chutes 27,

v 55128 and 29fare located in a plane at right angles to the plane of the conveyer band. While I have shown three principal chutes 2'7, 28 and 29, the number may be'varied as called for by different conditions. Also it will be understood that while the chutes27, 28preferably havethe cross-sectional formshown in the drawings, the chute 27 having a cross-section in the form of a U and the Y chute 28 being in the shape of a U having a slight spects. 5;

groove or depression 35 in the bottom thereof, considerable variation may be made in these re- It will be observed that in my present machi one of the inclined trough-like chutes over which the hairpins pass downwardly (in this instance the chute 29) delivers the hairpins, or at any rate a large number of the descending hairpins, to

1 the collecting track 30 whether the points of the hairpins or the loops thereof are directed down- 'wardly as the hairpins traverse the chute 29.

-There is a direct deliveryof the hairpins from the lower end of chute 29 to the upper end portofm of the the bottom of the V will approximate that of a finished hairpin, andthe tendency of the hairpinspassing down over chute 29 will be to descend to'the bottom of the V and to be turned into'the longitudinal axis of the chute so as to pass downwardly over the flat bottom thereof either with the points of the hairpin or with .the loop portion thereof downwardly directed.

Near the lower end of the chute 29 the bottom of the chute is'preferably somewhatnar'rowed, and

at the margins of the' flat'bottom: longitudinal grooves 36 are provided, 'as show'n more particularly in Fig. 8. The bottoms of these'grooves 36 extend downwardly below the bottom-middle portion of the chute, which is indicated at 3'7 in Fig. 8. The track 30 may advantageously comprise a thin sheet of metal or other suitable'material, whichis alined'with the channel formed in chute 29 ,"as shown in Fig. 6, and forms an extension of this chute on to which the hairpins ride.- At its upper extremityfthe 'upper 'edgeof 'theplate constituting-track member 30' engages the under surface-of the chute at the portion 37 I thereofjas shown inFig. 8. I'have shown the chute 29 andtrack 30 as having the s'amefinclination, that'is to say, the upper edge'of-the track 'as'having the same inclination as the botcasesPh a At its lower end' portion the track member-:30

-preferably'has a hook-like terminal 30 acting as a stop to arrest the hairpins and cause them to be collected in track "1 i r The deflecting wall 31" previously mentioned, which" is located beneath the 1 upper po'rtio'rrof thecollecting track 30, forms a part or a hopperreach of the conveyer. This hopper-like structure may vary considerably in'its construction,

but I prefer to provide such a str'uctu'reinwhich the inclined wall 31 forms the frontpart'and in" which an inclined bottom 38 is providedfan inclined side 39, and an approximately vertical side 40 opposite the side 39. The side 40' of the chute, but this is not necessary in all a bunch at the lower end of the i i "like structure at the'ldwer portion-ofthe machine adapted to receive hairpins in the open'upper end thereof and to deliver them to the ascending hopper is adjacent and substantially parallel'to the ascending reach of the conveyer and has an' opening 41 at its lower end through which ha irpins descending over hopper bottom member 38 fall into the open upper ends of -the adjacent conveyer buckets. P I

In the operation of the machine thrown into the hopper structureat the lower part of the machine are delivered to the buckets of the conveyer and carried upwardly until the hairpins buckets reach the downwardly slanted upper.

reach of the conveyer, at which time the hairpins are dumped into the short trough26; From the'trough 26 they pass down the chute 27, which is of such shape that the hairpins-tend'to become longitudinally alined with it as they pass downwardly over this chute. This chute'-'then,'

assage-2c I di erent and opposite ihlin-atiohflahd 5 in i the 7 refurthef separated from each other and the tenderi'c'y to bring them irito longitudinal alinement with fthec hute is incr'eased by the provision of the -bottom grooveffi5. "*I'he 'hairpins are then deli-vered to vth c'hute 29;

ten'dflcv of thiis 'bhiutve a ilso is alline fhe 'sa me direction as-the chute the' hairpins long'itudirially With it l as they pass i 'hairpins are lowermost as fit *slideshown alo'ng a l thebottomof chute "29, it' w ll be 'seenx-thati as the lower end of the chute-is reahedthe 'legs of the liairr'iirr engage the fgrooves hd and thus' being in a location somewhat b'elow the upberredge t track 530 Wh e i straddle? e d ""reinat'icn of a downwardly inclined trough-like caught oneithe -track -upon= 'fui:ther downward movement oft'he hairpins, as' 'shownl n iFig.i9."

f-"dowh over it. Supposing 5 that i the points 1 of the 0n the other hand, if the l'oop iportion of the hairpin"is ldwerrnost, -this loop portionifridesiover the flattened portion 37 adjacentithe rlowerend of the "chute and then "drops down: slightly. and

contacts with the upperr =edge of :theitrack.- Ihe I .Elegs QQf th hairpinsiengage the xgrooves 13.6,:and -then when' they. h'ave :passedi'completely :beyond the lower extremity of lithe ichute, the hairpin;

" partwoicnig. :10. a

inFig. 10, until it has completely.istraddleditheii track" and ihasfireached :a .substarrtiallyavertical L upositionz as shown di h??? tpositely inclined by which the hairpins are 're- "ceivedfrom-the'first-chute,-and an'extensionhav- It will be understood -that inrpracticeia large number of hairpins will be passing through the machine and that a number oflthe hairpins will not-be sufiiciently separated and alined with the chutes as they pass through the chutes to catch on the track. Any hairpins which failjto catch on the track fall'down again intothe hopper and are carried upwardly again by the conveyer to the set of chutes. 1

By so disposing the track member that it catches hairpins having their loops lowermost, as well as hairpins having their pointed ends lowermost, the'output of the machine is considerably increased as compared to prior machines. Owing to the features of structure herein described the improvedmachine has a large capacity and operates effectively and satisfactorily. i

I have not attempted to illustrate or describe the variouschanges in the construction herein described which may be made without departing from the principles of my invention. I have shown a single embodiment only, but it is to be understood that the. invention may take many different forms without departure from my inventive concept as expressed in the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A hairpin bunching machine comprising a channeled inclined chute over which the hairpins travel downwardly, and a stationary track memi fthe track member.

'=-uc1ivcrs the hairpins -tc the cnni'c zaa'rr nged'ai iicm tnc c'hutc intostrad'dling engagement with .-;a

3. 9111 a hairpin bunching machine, the combie nation'jo fa downwardly inclined "trough 'like ute and -astationary hairpin-collecting mem ber "the form of a plate extending from *said chute at the lower end thereof in substantially '-"4." In"a'hairpin bunching'machine, the combiand af collecting track member inclined in the "same-direction as the chute and forming an tension "for the chute atthe 'lowenendo'f -the chute. i

,5. In a hairpin bunching machine, thercomthe *hairpins" ride on to the "same directly f from the chute in straddling engagementwith said tra'ck memberwhether the loop ends or thepointiedendsof the hairpins passing down over -the "chutefare foremost.

*6. In 'a hairpin bunching machine, "the combination of atrough-like chute arranged at an inclination "to the vertical and over which the hairpins trayel' downwardly, asecond chute-oping a hairpin-collecting upper edge extending from the lower end portion of "the second j chute, said -extension having substantially the sameinclination and direction as the second chute.

7 In a hairpin bunching machine, the combination of a trough-like chute arranged at an inclination to the vertical and over which the hairpins travel downwardly, a second chute oppositely inclinedby which the hairpins are received from the first chute, and an extension on the lower end portion 'of the second chute having substantially the'same inclination and direction as the second chute, on which the hairpins are collected, said extension beingin the form of a thin plate having its edgeengaging the under surface of the chute.

8. Ina hairpin bunching machine, the combination of a plurality of chutes over which the hairpins travel downwardly, and a conveyer which carries hairpins upwardly to the uppermost chute, said conveyer comprising an endless band passing around the chutes and the plane of said band being substantially perpendicular to the chutes.

9. In a hairpin bunching machine, an endless conveyer belt disposed substantially to form a triangle, one of the sides of the triangle presenting an upper reach having a downward slant, said belt having buckets on the inner surface thereof, and a plurality of chutes over which the hairpins pass after discharge from the buckets, said buckets discharging the hairpins as the buckets pass along the upper reach of the belt.

10. In a hairpin bunching machine, an endless conveyer belt having buckets on its inner surface and arranged in the form of a triangle having an upper downwardly slanting run or reach causing the movement of the buckets to a discharging position, and a plurality of chutes disposed withinthe belt and under the discharging buckets;

11, In a hairpin bunching machine, an endless conveyer belt having buckets on its inner surface and arranged in the form of a triangle, one of the sides of the triangle presenting a down- 9 anon of a downwardly inclined trough-likechute '10 chute, said tra'ck member-being arranged to have 0 wardly slanting upper reachof the belt, a chute to receive thehairpins discharged by the buckets Qas they pass along the upper reach ,or run of the belt, said chute arranged substantially in the ,plane of the belt, and other chutes over which thehairpins pass and to which they are delivered ,by said first chute, said other chutes being substantially perpendicular to the plane ofthe belt. j 12. In a hairpin bunching machine, an endless 1'.

on the inner surface thereof, said buckets ar-.

conveyer belt in a vertical plane having buckets ranged to discharge when they reach the upper .j part oftheibelt and hairpin-separating means arranged in the loop of the belt to catch the discharging hairpins.

' 13. In a hairpin bunching machine, an endless .,.conveyer belt in a vertical plane having buckets on thev inner surface thereof, said buckets arranged to discharge as they pass along an upper reach or vrun of the belt, and a plurality of chutes over which the hairpins pass after discharge from the buckets,

' 14. A hairpin bunching machine having adownwardly inclined chute over which the hairpins travel, and a similarly inclinedstationary collecting plate having a thin upper edge on to which .the hairpins ride directly from the chute.

15. A hairpin bunching machine ,having an' inclined chute, and a collecting track in the form of a plate having its edge extending under the chute, .saidplate forming a continuation of said lchute.v

,16. A hairpin bunching machine having a [downwardly inclined chute over which the hairin the bottom on opposite sides of the plate with" grooves having their bottomslocated below the upper edge of the plate.

18. A hairpin bunching machine having a chute provided with a flat bottom and with inclined side walls, the bottom part of the chute adja-" cent the lower end thereof being provided with longitudinal grooves'at the sides, and a plate extending outwardly from the end of the chute adjacent the bottom thereof in alinement with the space between said grooves.

19. In a hairpin bunching machine, an inclined channel-like chute, and a collecting plate presented edgewise to the chute at the lower end thereof in substantially abutting relation and disposed in a vertical plane.

20. In a hairpin bunching machine, a chute having a substantially flat bottom along which the hairpins travel, and a collecting track arranged as a continuous extension of the chute and that of the chute bottom.

' IRVING H. PECK.

.. having its plane substantially perpendicular to 

